Will we get to watch the Watchmen?

It was the movie they said would never get made, and now it looks like it may be the movie that never gets seen. With it's March release date looming, there's a chance that the Watchmen movie may not see the light of day until 2011 or beyond. The Warner Bros. property (DC Comics is a subsidiary of WB) has switch hands from Fox, to Universal, then Paramount where it is finally being produced together with Warner Bros. and during that whole time not a peep came from Fox. In fact, Zack Snyder had signed to helm the project and the film was deep into production when bits of the movie started showing up online and causing quite a buzz of excitement. It wasn't until that point, when the movie was all but completed and fans were primed to finally see Watchmen that Fox called foul claiming that they still held certain proprietary rights to distribution of the film (that WB wasn't even aware of). Now Fox has taken the matter to court and apparently is less interested in settling than they are keeping the film from being released at all. To complicate matters more, on Christmas Eve the court ruled that Fox did in fact hold certain rights the film, but all of that was between Fox and producer Lawrence Gordon who brought the property to Fox in the first place. It's Gordon and not WB that is liable here, but he refused to testify in the initial hearing and now the judge, Gary A. Feess has ruled that any information that Gordon has that would go against the judge's ruling is not allowed. That means that if it turns out that WB is within their rights and all wrong doings are between Gordon and Fox, that will no longer matter. In fact, the man who took the property from Fox to Paramount (Gordon) isn't even a defendant in what's going on. The person responsible and who cashed in on the deal is not liable. Yeah, that sounds like justice. In actuality, the judge even decided to rule in favor of Fox without a hearing. When laywers for WB protested the lack of due process, the Judge Feess stated that he planned to move on to the question of remedies rather than fight the issues again. The problem with that is that if WB is within their rights to distribute this film, which is the main issue, then remedies are incidental. There is a court date set for January 6, 2009 to try to get this settled before the March 6th release date, but Fox has no intention at this time of letting this film see the light of day and Judge Feess has stated that the release of the film could very well be blocked if the dispute isn't settled in time. So, Fox decided not to make a film, they were cool with it going to Universal, they were cool with it going to Paramount, they were alright with Warner Bros. (who actually owns the property)/Paramount finally making a film out of it, but when it was clear that this film could be lucrative they decide that they still have the distribution rights to the property. They're like a little kid who doesn't want a toy until they see someone else enjoying it. Of course, I can't blame them since Fox is notorious for not being able produce a blockbuster movie anymore. Fox claims it never fully relinquished story rights from its deal made in the late 1980s, and sued Warner Bros. in February. Warner Bros. contended Fox isn't entitled to distribution. Warner Bros.' attorney said Monday he didn't know if an appeal was coming, but thinks a trial is necessary and a settlement unlikely. In my opinion I believe that 20th Century Fox thought that if they waited until Warner Bros. had already financed the film and production was all but complete to stake a claim that they would have WB in a corner and gain incredible leverage, which at this point seems to be the case. So, now what do they want? You know, Fox has been begging WB for the rights to distribute the old Batman TV series for years, maybe they can just trade distribution rights straight up. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?